Joe Bass

[sholder02]

Dad and I fished the Joe Bass team tournament yesterday. I believe there was around 70 boats.

We started out around Aunt's Creek and we were culling within the first hour. We were fishing a channel swing and the spots were stacked thick in about a 30 yard stretch of bank. I didn't keep track of how many we caught but I'd guess a minimum of 30 kentucky's in the first 3 hours...around half were keepers. We upgraded with a couple smallmouth, one that was around 3#'s. I kept thinking that the largemouth would move in but knew time was ticking and my patience was beginning to wear thin. We packed up around 10ish and ran up Big Creek. The spots I wanted to fish already had guys on them. We pulled up on a secondary point and began fishing the deeper water on the side. Hooked into a largemouth that allowed us to cull one of our spots. Fished there for a few more hours without another bite. Decided to make a move to Baxter but when we went to fire up the boat, it wouldn't start. After numerous tries, we finally got it going (needs new plugs...hopefully). We were worried if we shut it off again, we wouldn't get it started. We decided to we better get back closer to the ramp in case we had to use the trolling motor to load the boat. Finished out our last few hours in Fisher Creek. Caught another spot and smallmouth but wasn't able to cull.

We didn't stick around after we weighed our fish so I have no idea where we finished up. We had a little over 12.5 pounds. Fann weighed in behind me and had close to 22 pounds.

All of our fish came on the A-Rig. Depending on where we were, boat was in 35-60 fow throwing into ~20 fow and counting it down 6-8 seconds.

Prefishing on Friday I caught a couple vertically jigging the A-Rig.

I was just happy to finally get back on the water!

[merc1997 Bo]

you certainly caught a good number. just needed some kicker size. i looked on the joe bass website, but there is not any results posted.

bo

[motoman]

Nice report there sholder; sounds like you guys were definitely on fish. That's certainly nice catching them in a tourney vs. Struggling without a bite all day. But, when you fish against one of the Fanns down there; be prepared to be humbled. I've learned that the hard way.:-(

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On a side note.......when you say, "fished there for a few hours, without another bite"........when do you guys decide to leave a spot on tournament day? I'm just curious how others approach this scenario.

[Alex Heitman]

Good job sholder. We fished it as well and had around 14.5 lbs. Had a 6.02 kicker with just some keepers to go along with it. We only had 5 keepers the whole day with lots of barley short fish. We caught all of ours on something other than the a-rig which made my day except the part of missing out on big bass and in the money lol. Needs to warm up so we can out those dang things away. I will be celebrating when that arig bite is over.

[ryan]

Fished Joe Bass as well had 18.72lb. All fish on a rig, couldn't buy a bite on a jig. Fished up the white all day but I think the bite at the dam is just starting to bust loose as evidence by the top weights. Gonna be on fire in the next week or two. Had a good day just needed another big bite and the dam area guys to struggle. I sure would like to ride along with Fanns this time of year and see how it's done. To win this time of year you just have to have 22+ lbs with that a rig. I just haven't figured out how to do that yet, however it's not for lack of trying!!!! I really need to spend more of my practice from the dam to long creek as I just don't think the remote can consistently produce those 20+ lb bags. Then again it's probably the Indian and not the bow if you know what I mean!

[ryan]

Fished Joe Bass as well had 18.72lb. All fish on a rig, couldn't buy a bite on a jig. Fished up the white all day but I think the bite at the dam is just starting to bust loose as evidence by the top weights. Gonna be on fire in the next week or two. Had a good day just needed another big bite and the dam area guys to struggle. I sure would like to ride along with Fanns this time of year and see how it's done. To win this time of year you just have to have 22+ lbs with that a rig. I just haven't figured out how to do that yet, however it's not for lack of trying!!!! I really need to spend more of my practice from the dam to long creek as I just don't think the remote can consistently produce those 20+ lb bags. Then again it's probably the Indian and not the bow if you know what I mean!

remote=river dang it auto correct

[Alex Heitman]

Ryan great job. I don't think they are catching those big bags in the dam to kimberling area. That bite has been horrible with all of the shad kill. I think they have been getting those bags up the white or James and maybe into the start of long creek. Not for sure on that but that's just what I think.

[sholder02]

Great bag of fish Ryan and a nice kicker, Alex.

[fishingaddiction]

All you guys had decent bags congrats, just a few upgrades away from being right there. The fishing has been and still is really tuff. If not fishing the right stuff or right technique is very easy to have nothing to show for days work. Hats off to Alex for catching them on something other than the rig. I am ready for anything else to be productive other than the rig. Thanks for posting.

[sholder02]

Results are finally up. Congrats on finishing in the money, Ryan.

http://www.joebassteamtrail.com/table-rock-results/031514-table-rock/